Boxer Brewer: From Conqueror to Crisis - What Went Wrong?

2024-02-14 19:27:54

Published on February 14, 2024 at 8:27 p.m. / Modified on February 14, 2024 at 9:55 p.m.

In September, the well-known brewer Boxer showed itself to be a conqueror, announcing in 24 hours an extension of its site in Yverdon-les-Bains, with a view to doubling its production capacity. The company’s director, Philipp Bucher, claimed that sales had increased by 50%. He welcomed a successful marriage, since the takeover of the company in 2018 by the Zurich company Doppelleu Brauwerkstatt AG, to form Chopfab Boxer: “At the time, there were fears about the possibility of German-speaking Swiss in Yverdon. But we managed to set up a great collaboration,” he told the Vaudois daily.

Less than six months later, the tone is radically different. The company is experiencing serious financial difficulties. “Without sanitation measures, sustainability is not assured,” said Philipp Bucher in the economic weekly Trade newspaper, Tuesday. The same day, the staff in Winterthur and Yverdon, around 90 employees including 35 in Vaud, were informed of the turbulence encountered by the company.